Learning Parte Dos

I put JJ to bed every night after K feeds him and reads him a book. Over the past two weeks, JJ has discovered his fists and fingers and sucks on them before going to sleep. (Well, it's more like he licks them. He's only 8 weeks old; give him a break.) Some time during his first week, he decided he didn't want to be completely swaddled for nap time, so I left one of his arms out of the swaddle--the Caesar swaddle, as I call it, because it looks like he has on a little toga.

Now, this kid has been left side dominant since his first day: he generally looks to his left, rolls onto his left side, and has started sucking on his left fist. Last night I Casesar-swaddled him, but I left his right arm out, trying to get him to use both hands. He threw a fit for about 10 minutes and was completely unconsolable. So I unswaddled him, changed his diaper and Caesar-swaddled him with his left arm out.

He went right to sleep.

So, last night I learned that my son is probably going to be left-handed. And sometimes it's the simplest things that make a kid happy.

learning

I had my 30th birthday last week, and I have a 2 month old. I've been married almost 2 1/2 years. Though these are numbers that make someone seem more mature, I don't necessarily feel older.

Now that I'm a father, as I've said before, I feel like I have a license to learn more and discover the world as my son is discovering it. I feel like I have permission to ask questions. To figure things out. To make friends and try new things.

Scott Logie wrote in his recent post about making mistakes to get better as a parent. I'm learning more in my job and in my family. I'm learning about how to be a better father. I'm learning how to be a better husband, and I tell ya: I've never been more in love with my wife than I am now!

And that's one more thing I've learned: my capacity to love has grown exponentially. I catch glimpses of my wife holding our son, and my first instinct is to grab the camera, but sometimes I just stop myself. There are moments I just want for myself--memories to treasure that no one can take away from me.

I'm learning more to love more.

smiling

JJ smiled at me this morning. All week he has been fussy, and K took him to the doctor for possible reflux. JJ was prescribed some medicine, and he's been better over the past three days. After K fed him in the living room this morning, I passed them in going from the kitchen to the laundry room. K said that JJ tracked me and smiled.

I'm so amazed at how he's developing and how he's growing. I love him so much, and I'm reminded of how God loves me, his child.

JJ's lying down now, and I'm making breakfast. He's just talking, and I'm smiling.

Gearing up for a romantic #valentinesday wknd. Making the wife feel special as a #newmom & #newdad.

I also need to make sure I'm working out regularly. I want to be healthy for K, JJ, and my future grandkids!

I'm a better man

I'm a better man since I became a father. I've become a better husband. I've become a better teacher. I've become more responsible and keenly more aware of how my actions affect others. I've also become more aware of my need to have older and wiser men in my life, including my father, who can show me things along the way and to let me know that things will be OK in the long run.

When I was a kid, I thought my dad knew everything. I still think he's a pretty knowledgeable guy. But now that I'm a dad myself, I catch myself guessing how my dad might have done things 30 years ago and realizing that he didn't have all the answers. He just did the best he could for the good of his family.

The biggest thing that I'm learning as a new dad is to learn new things. Ask questions. Discover. Admit I don't know. Live life. Be proactive.

Relish in bedtime routines.

cloth diapering, a love story

I posted a couple of weeks ago how we were trying out cloth diapers for JJ. We had our trial pack in hand, and we weren't afraid to use them. JJ took to them quite easily, and we, his parents, found it was easier to use the more absorbent pods and do laundry everyday than to go through a box of several hundred disposables in about a week's time.

Since that last post, we are full-time users of the Soft Bums cloth diapers, and we're using the bamboo/organic cotton blend inserts. All in all, we spent under $400 for 24 one-size inserts, 8 newborn inserts and 8 shells. This combined with the two shells and some of the Stay Dry inserts we got with our trial pack means we're pretty well set. It's been really easy to use the Soft Bums because the inserts hold a massive amount of pee and poo--something JJ has become quite proficient in. Plus, they change with the ease of a disposable.

And I don't have to make any midnight runs to the grocery store to get more diapers because we just ran out at 10pm.

I told a buddy last night that I'm glad we're using the cloth diapers. He said, "I don't think that's something I'd ever be glad about." I meant, I'm glad we have the cloth diapers because of the overall cost of buying the big pack of disposables every week versus the one time cost of the cloth. It's true that the smell of day-old pee and poo in the wet bag is one of the more revolting things I've ever smelled in my life, but they clean oh so easily!

I just put another load in the washer and have a load of inserts in the dryer. That's much more comfortable than competing with other dads in the diaper aisle at Wal-Mart on a Saturday.